you definitely should- it's both easier and harder than you think. Well, I shouldn't say that. It can easily be done start to finish without any fancy tools. Some operations like stretching and forminmg, and ESPECIALLY keeping the wet leather clean are harder than you would think, but the tooling and coloring are easier than you would think. The aseembly really takes longer than the whole design and tooling! haha But this machine sewn seat took me I think 12 hours? It was a real learning experience using the large Singer cobbler's machine, and getting that welt in there. hand sewing is a TOTALY different beast! I actually prefer hand sewing